Benfits of Sound Card

Geffen · 6 Dec 2013 at 09:06

I was wondering if there any real benefit in having a sound card these days for casual gamer. It used to be that a sound card would have better output and increase FPS than using the onboard system. Is this still the case? If so what Sound cards would people recommend.

Glanza · 6 Dec 2013 at 09:10

What mobo do you have?

Some of the higher end boards come with pretty decent onboard audio atm.

Marsman · 6 Dec 2013 at 14:04

The days of a sound card benefiting system performance are long gone. Onboard sound quality has improved a lot over the last 10 years, so for some a sound card is not needed. Sound cards do offer better gaming sound effects and positioning for surround, so personally I'd always prefer to have a sound card, even if it's just a £20 Xonar DG.

varkanoid · 6 Dec 2013 at 15:11

the Xonar DG even at £20 is a lot better than most onboard sound. If its realtek onboard sound then a soundcard is always better imho.

Its like going from Dolby Stereo to Dolby Digital.

shadow_boxer · 6 Dec 2013 at 15:42

Also really depends on what the output is. If you're using cheap and nasty speakers or headset the benefit is totally wasted.

Geffen · 6 Dec 2013 at 15:57

My motherboard is a Asus M5A97 Evo R2.0 with a realtex sound processor. In terms of speakers i've got what is now quite an old 2.1 Creative set of speakers. The sound quality from them when i first brought them was very good, not sure if speaker get worse over time as these are now the oldest part of my system.

Doco · 6 Dec 2013 at 16:00

Have to agree with shaow_boxer in that you need to use headphones/speakers that can benefit from a sound card :-)

Mr Badger · 6 Dec 2013 at 16:50

shadow_boxer said:
Also really depends on what the output is. If you're using cheap and nasty speakers or headset the benefit is totally wasted.

Absolutely this. Also, some motherboards have much better onboard sound than others.

Assuming you don't have your PC connected up to your hi-fi/home entertainment systenm, the best option for quality sound is probably a good set of hi-fi headphones plugged into a decent sound card. If you're using a cheap gaming headset or pc speakers then you are unlikely to get any real benefit over onboard sound.

raza · 6 Dec 2013 at 17:05

varkanoid said:
the Xonar DG even at £20 is a lot better than most onboard sound. If its realtek onboard sound then a soundcard is always better imho.

Its like going from Dolby Stereo to Dolby Digital.

Oh god I ve got realtek onboard it does sound awful you are right of course.

krnsniper · 6 Dec 2013 at 19:03

Benefits include cleaner output, higher sound quality. A soundcard will almost in all cases be better than a realtek onboard.

Goose · 6 Dec 2013 at 19:23

Sort of semi-hijack here.

I've getting a set of Corsair 1400 headseat for xmas and currently use onboard sound (see sig). Would a £30 soundcard offer good value for money with said headset?

Thanks

PureJaz · 6 Dec 2013 at 21:42

Yah it would improve the sound.

As stated above even using just the Xonar DG at £20 you should hear some improvement.

Geffen · 6 Dec 2013 at 22:18

If i was going to look at a new pair of 2.1 speakers what would people recommend?

PureJaz · 6 Dec 2013 at 22:23

Whats your budget?

These (Though 2.0) sound really good, and for the money are a bargain.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SP-003-ER

snakefood · 8 Dec 2013 at 11:08

I have the Gigabyte Z77X-D3H which has via on board sound. What's the opinion of this for audio quality? I have a reasonable set of 2.1.

Would this be improved on by throwing in a cheap card, as mentioned above for replacing the on-board realtek?

Marsman · 8 Dec 2013 at 11:52

Your board uses Via, Not Realtek. Might be worth getting a sound card, but it depends on what you mean by reasonable 2.1 speakers. £25, I wouldn't bother. £50 might be worth it. £50-£100, definitely.

arknor · 8 Dec 2013 at 12:48

even a cheap soundcard is better than onboard.

I hate how onboard always tends to have fairly deep base and the only way you can usually alter it is with the EQ

It used to be that a sound card would have better output and increase FPS than using the onboard system

I doubt it if you have a fairly good cpu
It's not like the old days when everyone had 1-2 cores and they would be at 100% load during gaming.

my haswell is usually around 96%,90%,60%,60% at most in games

snakefood · 8 Dec 2013 at 14:57

Marsman said:
Your board uses Via, Not Realtek. Might be worth getting a sound card, but it depends on what you mean by reasonable 2.1 speakers. £25, I wouldn't bother. £50 might be worth it. £50-£100, definitely.

Thanks, I know I have Via, I mentioned that I was querying my Gigabyte's Via sound.

Still working out the best option for my speaker setup, I have a 2.1 set that I bought a while back, but I also have a decent set of 12" 3 way floorstanders. Debating maybe replacing the satellites from the 2.1 set with my large speakers, as I miss the drop from having an added sub, but get a much richer sound from my large boxes. Either way, I'm in the decent speaker range you mentioned.

Am I correct in think this is the card that I should be looking at?

Marsman · 8 Dec 2013 at 15:21

Sorry, I missed 'via' and misread the context of where you mentioned 'realtek'.

I would say the S330D are worth buying a sound card for, but that's if you are using analogue connection. IIRC the S330D have optical input, so if you are using that, then a sound card wouldn't be of worth.

snakefood · 8 Dec 2013 at 16:30

Aye - I also only just realized that yes, I am using the optical output from my on board.
Only moving up a little in price tho, this sound card has an optical output...any idea if cheap optical still stands to be as good an upgrade?